Dramatic, Horror/Survival Horror, Humorous/Parody, Roleplay, Romance, Twisted / Dark
Scope
Part of Series
Content
Teen
TricksTraps
Light
Roleplay
Heavy
HackSlash
Heavy
LevelMin
14
LevelMax
17
Gameplay Hours
07
Patch
1.23
NWN2Game
NWN2:SoZ
Description
The Sinister Series Part III of III - On the Heights of Despair
For an endless time you have been locked up in a prison cell for a crime you haven't committed. So when a mysterious stranger opens the door to your cell and tells you that she has come to liberate you, you naturally hope for the best. Little do you know of her plans for you... What could be on the other side of the portal she leads you to? Are you prepared for a nightmare exceeding the limits of your imagination?
Will you find your way in a desolate and empty dimension so much unlike your own? Explore the ruins of an ancient civilization and discover the reasons for its downfall. Meet unexpected allies and an unbelievably evil and deranged artificial intelligence. Will your actions result in your freedom or will you even cause more suffering? Or will you be only tormented for eternity?
After all, On the Heights of Despair is a little experiment with a well-developed narrative and lengthy dialogs.
This mod is probably not the right thing for the faint of heart, but it might appeal to you if you love a complex narrative with emotional depth, long dialogs with realistic characters (each of the major characters has his own personality) and a futuristic setting.
What makes this mod experimental is that I tried to create a futuristic scenario. It was not easy to create areas that could be the credible remains of a technologically advanced civilization, since 95% of the game's resources have a distinctly medieval touch.
Note that not all action takes place in a futuristic setting, you will also travel back to areas and encounter NPCs you might remember from the previous two missions.
Length: approx. 6 hours
GAMEPLAY:
A character around level 15 is recommended. A male character is highly recommended since the conversations do not support a female protagonist. Most encounters shouldn't be too difficult if you put the different talents of your companions to good use.
CONVERSATIONS:
Conversations are usually long and focused on the main characters.
I wanted to create them as realistic as possible. Each of the major characters has an unique personality that should be reflected in the conversations. Your companions will also be involved in many dialogs and say a few things, or let you know they want to talk. There are fewer NPCs than in Part II, so conversations are centered on the main characters. Again, there are no skill checks in the conversations and your options don't depend on your character.
COMPANIONS:
You will encounter two new companions and a familiar character from the first two parts. The game should be played with all of them and it is not intended that you recruit only one or two. Each of them can be fully controlled. Their different classes and talents should be quite helpful in most battles.
ITEMS:
Only very few shops exist in the game which can only be accessed at certain points and you won't find an abundance of magical armors and items to sell.
RESPAWNING:
Respawning allows you to continue instantly at the point where you died, but you will pay a heavy penalty in gold and XP. The game can be completed without respawning, so try to avoid it since it will weaken your character considerably.
Your comments are always welcome (you can also write me in German). And please vote if you like this mod.
-Introduces hak for custom resources (fixes the visual glitches when saving & reloading, eg missing hair)
-Atmospheric music for all areas (optional, but highly recommended)
-Several minor bugfixes
Enjoy!
Posted by karen at 2012-08-05 15:57:51 Voted 8.00 on 08/05/12
I'm not quite sure what to say about the third in the series, but the ending blew me away lol!
Posted by Winwood at 2011-04-07 17:04:13 Voted 8.75 on 04/07/11
***spoilers***
finally I have time to look into this... If you want to call the time travelling script manually you can call "rs dotimetravel" in the console after "DebugMode 1".
Have fun!
Hey seinsvergessen,
I'd be fine with overriding that conversation; but I don't know how to call a script from in-game even in Debug Mode. I'm still under the impression I'll be changing the module itself.
Sarin
***spoiler***
I'm really sorry about this bug, I will look into it when I have more time. This is Shaara's last conversation, if you bring her the component she should say goodbye and send you into the past.
Maybe you would like to skip this convo and call the script that sends you to the Echeron of the past manually?
Hey seinvergessen,
**Begin slight spoilers**
I rooted around for a good while and think I found the problem isn't a variable but that the script that the "I have the Processing Component" convo calls (get_item) has OBJECT_INVALID even though the string field for the condition mentions the pcempty item. But I suspect trying to fix that in the toolset means I'd have to 'bake' another version of your module and start from the beginning.
But I'm still not sure I was even going the right way since I set all the variables against the conditions for Shaara to do her 2nd Stone spiel and never got any /other/ result besides that convo... so even there I'm doubting what I'm doing.
**End slight spoilers***
Thank you for the help, but I think I'm going to call this game a wrap.
Sarin
***spoilers***
I didn't look into the scripts now, but what I intended was something like that: If you go to the lab with Shaara she should make her speech and send you on the quest to find a processing component and leave your party. It should not matter at all if the processing component is already in your inventory, the script should simply check if it is present in your inventory. The convo about the second stone is really out of place here, maybe it was interrupted or not completed and therefore the variable that should mark it as completed is not set. And now in the lab you can't finish it either... The best solution here would open the toolset, dive into the convo, look for the variable that is not set and use dm_set in the console to set it manually.
Hi seinvergessen,
I've been playing through your trilogy and in this third module think I've hit a problem nobody else has mentioned here...
**SPOILERS**
Having traveled back to Penumbra to take Shaara to the laboratory, the convo from her tasking me to find an unbroken Processing Component went fine.
However I had already looted the entire level earlier in the game and had the unbroken Processing Component in my inventory.
When I talked with her again, the only conversation she gave was the same one she gave after the second stone was snatched by Sephiroth.
I tried going to an earlier save, dropping the Processing Component--then getting the mission from Shaara--but still, no change.
**END SPOILERS**
And off again ... I have the second stone and have talked to everyone. I backtracked through the entire sequence right back to the room where I got the first piece. I talked to everyone there too, but I still cannot find Shaara's lab. What do I do next?
The guardian only accepts a sample of the princess' blood, so it is not a bug if he doesn't accept Cordelia's blood (I think she should mention that she thinks it will not work).
And there's no party limit in this mod. Besides the three companions you know by now you can only take Vanessa into your party (though not as a fully controllable character), after you've had the encounter in the castle's storeroom. If you tell her about it, she will always join you (no matter what you said before), alternatively you can solve things the evil way and take her blood by force (which means killing her).
Once the guardian has let you in, things should become very clear and linear again.
OK, I worked out that I need to get Vanessa into the party. Is 4 my party limit? I couldn't get Bill to join when I met him. Will I have to drop someone to get Vanessa? Can I still get her into the party if I have refused to help her once before?
I'm sensing that I am making EVERY out-of-order mistake that the old version has in it. If I need to do things in an exact order, please send me a walkthrough for this section, by personal email. Thanks.
Hi,
I'm still playing the old version with the Cordy bug and I have discovered a new one, I think.
In the conversation with the Guardian of the Treasure, Cordelia offers her blood but nothing happens. She says she hopes it will work, then the Guardian says you will come back. The door does not open. Please tell me what I must do, or give me a console command to open the door. Thanks in advance.
Cheers,
Dave
Posted by furball at 2010-07-17 18:08:47 Voted 10.00 on 07/17/10
Thank-you for making the mod the the rest of the trilogy.
An updated version is now available for download. Enjoy!
A couple of bugs that were causing confusion when some things were done in particular combinations should be fixed now. Please note that it was never my intention to impose a fixed order of quests on you, it might have looked that way because of the bugs....
Posted by andgalf at 2010-06-21 01:18:13 Voted 8.75 on 06/21/10
I finished the module. Maybe not as great as the other two installements in the series but very good nontheless! A really interesting ending. I both liked it and didn't like it. It would have been more fun (but not as original) to correct the errors so to speak, if you know what I mean.
Pros:
- Original story and setting
- Nice visuals
- Great story
- Great characters
- The ending
Cons:
- Quite a few times it's unclear what you should do next
- A few bugs
- It is an unlinear module but at the same time it seems
the creator of the module had an exact order of things in
mind (like which quest to do first) and that creates confusion.
- Some things felt a little bit unresolved when it came to quests
(for example the election and the weird fisherman - why did he behave like he did, and the short but sweet romance)
and Godons involvement in the whole plot.
- The ending
Thank you for this module! I had a really nice time playing it!!
Posted by andgalf at 2010-06-20 23:17:01 Voted 8.75 on 06/21/10
I just tested your suggestion and it worked! The problem was that I just talked to him one time before. I didn't think about that maybe he had more things to say to me.
Posted by andgalf at 2010-06-20 23:08:43 Voted 8.75 on 06/21/10
Thank you for the reply! As alsways your mods are filled with great, characters, great story, wonderful humour (ok, maybe not so much in this one) and great dialog.
*SPOILERS*
Maybe I did it wrong by talking to Sam before talking to her husband. I've played this part two times now (I replayed with an older save game and did everything with Cordy's soul in the order which I think was intended) but everytime I always talk to Sam first so maybe that's the problem.
First of all I'd like to thank all the players who posted on the vault or wrote me emails and helped me find the bugs I'd missed in the initial release. Let's hope these were the last of them ;-) Developing mods would not be half the fun without your help!
I've already uploaded an update which aims at fixing all those bugs to the ftp server (now it's the admins turn). However, I found no trace of a bug in the quest involving the flawed, as descripted by andgalf. This quest is, technically speaking, very simple and I was a little surprised that things can actually go wrong there.
***SPOILERS***
andgalf: I assume the problem is that you've already been upstairs to Sam's room, without getting the key to the storeroom from her husband first. The problem is that you can't get the key from him anymore, once he has moved upstairs. The storeroom is the locked room in the palace area and - without giving away too much - I can say it has quite some importance for the plot development. Sorry for the bug! It will become more clear in the updated version.
***END SPOILERS***
Posted by andgalf at 2010-06-20 02:18:34 Voted 8.75 on 06/21/10
I'm stuck. Please help me someone!!
*SPOILERS*
I have Cordelia, Aribert and Shaara in my party. I'm in Zentha and have talked to everyone and decided to help Samantha with her election. Now I don't know what to do.
I'm looking for the second stone but I don't know where to find it. I also got to get rid of Vanessa somehow but everytime I adress her she just sais something like "Hi again" and then nothing happens. When I talk to Cordelia about the stones she suggests going to the capital (Is Arda or Zentha the capital?) and Samantha sais it's buried under the castle or something like that. And I can't seem to rescue the fisherman either.
Maybe I did things in the wrong order (it's extremely EASY to do things in the wrong order 'cause many times you're not clear about what you have to do). I went to the Zentha and talked with everyone at the tavern when I found out that to rescue Cordelia's soul you had to get back to Echeron... so I did that.
But as I said now I don't know what to do. I've been everywhere it seems and I can't progress any of the quests.
*END SPOILERS*
Someone, please help me so I can finish this module.
Posted by andgalf at 2010-06-18 09:01:42 Voted 8.75 on 06/21/10
I solved the problem. Obviously it was a bug. I took a savegame and replayed the whole thing with the flawed ones and now it worked. Wierd.
Posted by andgalf at 2010-06-17 01:50:13 Voted 8.75 on 06/21/10
I've got a problem. I seem to be stuck.
*POSSIBLE SPOILERS*
I'm looking for the first stone and I encountered the flawed ones. They gave me a task to eliminate all of their enemies. I've done that...I think. But still the one who gave me the task sais he can still feel them. I've looked everywhere and I can't find any more of them. The only thing is a closed door that leads to a lower level I think and I can't get through it...
Hi, seinsvergessen,
Do you have a timeline for the update fixing the Cordy problem? I'm done parts I and II, but am waiting for and looking forward to starting Part III.
When you've defeated the first keeper, he will drop a key that can be used to open all doors in this area. You don't need to rescue Cordy before you go through the portal, but you should do it before you leave the tower through the front entrance (for which you need the key I just mentioned).
10 - A Masterpiece, Genuinely Groundbreaking 9 - Outstanding, a Must Have 8 - Excellent, Recommended to Anyone 7 - Very Good, Deserves a Look 6 - Good, Qualified Recommendation 5 - Fair, Solid yet Unremarkable 4 - Some Merit, Requires Improvements 3 - Poor Execution, Potential Unrealized 2 - Very Little Appeal 1 - Not Recommended to Anyone
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